I had always harbored suspicions he had Christian principles when he moved to his later band Audioslave. Take a look at the song Show Me How to Live. Knowing he converted is a joyous thing to my mind. As a Gen X it feels as if a part of my youth was redeemed.
This Saturnalian stuff is very disturbing though. Makes me thing of the Muslim “holy” stone in Mecca and is supposedly a meteor fragment. They placed it inside a large black cube of a building…. Creepy.
It’s wild how the demons (and God) can speak to people through artists without them even understanding the message.
Last year I had a long conversation with Jonathan Pageau about this topic - the rainbow prism album cover of Dark Side of the Moon was incredibly prophetic… but did Pink Floyd know what it represented? And the album “Californication” is a perfect symbolic description of the end of the world. But Anthony Kiedis is apparently dumb as a rock.
We have to be very careful when creating or consuming our words and music!
Artists, more than anyone I think, are susceptible to pick up, use, and channel "energies". This is obviously their greatest talent as without it they would not be able to create. But it is clearly a very dangerous skill, as demonstrated by the lives of many musicians and other artists. I don't like the Satanic panic attitude either, but a song like the one in question here is so clearly dark. I felt strange listening to it over and over again while writing this.
Socratic dialogue “Ion” is about this. Artists very seldom “know” about their art, it is created through inspiration or possession by the divine, or I guess the demonic in some cases.
I grew up in Seattle in the 80s and 90s, coming of age at the height of the grunge movement. My own temperament, as well as the broader zeitgeist in that time and place, was overwhelmingly saturnalian - “lack of energy, depression, blindness, and rapid aging…” describes the atmosphere perfectly. At age 10 or so, some of my classmates and I formed what we called the “suicide club,” for kids who fantasized about suicide. It was fortunately just larping at that age, but such was the mood.
It’s also worth noting the symbolic role literal rain played in setting this saturnalian stage. It was dark and damp most of the year, and the darkness and dampness felt like a spiritually oppressive force. So I appreciate your analysis that washing away the rain is an inversion of God’s use of rain to wash away a sinful world in the story of the Flood, but we would have interpreted that line back in the day as summoning some greater force to remove the literal rain seemingly imposing this saturnalian atmosphere on us (I live in the tropics now).
I’m heading back home for a visit next week, and I always dread the atmosphere there. The energy has changed for the worse in the past decade or two. While the grunge era was dark and godless, there was at least something of an admirable spirit of rebellion and a culture of introspection and thoughtfulness. Now the predominant atmosphere is more Ahrimanic, a culture of moralizing busybody HR ladies of both sexes.
2025 Seattle is to 1995 Seattle what the plastic people in the video are to Cornell himself, a juxtaposition between soulless, mindless plasticity and soulful (if dark) authenticity.
One thing is for certain, Satan is doing his best work to date but I’d say he started ramping up several decades ago. I hadn’t heard of this Saturn connection before but it’s definitely interesting.
Right out of the gate, I don’t think Cornell killed himself. He was living his best life at the time. Sober, reborn, happy marriage and loved his kids.
I was a huge Soundgarden fan and a bigger fan of Cornell. This was my era, grunge. Much of their music, as with many artists, was written during drug influenced times. Cornell struggled with both alcoholism and drug addiction.
Does this mean Satan influenced artists while they were under the influence? Totally plausible. I’m of the opinion there’s less intention to be Satan worshippers and more intention to write in a stream of consciousness. Many, many artists have stated as much and have been influenced by reading or hearing a phrase, such as Cornell mentioned.
Cornell’s death was a great loss to the music industry. He had an incredible voice and talent.
I inherently distrust any "fact-checking" website. That said, I'm not attached to these theories either. As the essay said, I only just learned about this man yesterday. But something about the story feels intuitively off.
You only heard of Chris Cornell two days ago, and you thought this was a reasonable interpretation and a smart article to write? Have you ever heard any of his other music?
I first saw Soundgarden in 1989.Their music, and Chris's music, covers a broad gamut of human experience. That's what artists do. When engaging with darkness while writing about it, it's possible they can be entangled with it. It's a risk they take in order to bear witness, and it's very brave of them.
It was absolutely heartbreaking to our town when Chris died. We all thought he was well settled into his later life,so it was like a nightmare, bringing back the memories of losing Andrew Wood, Kris Cobain, Kristen Pfaff, Layne Staley, and others. It seemed like he'd been claimed by an old curse that everyone thought had been broken.
Kurt Cobain was a very troubled young man. I was a fan and read a lot about him and his drug addiction. After his death there was a lot of information that came out. His friends and family were doing the tough love thing and keeping their distance because he had fallen off the wagon again. He was isolated, drug addled, and severely depressed and he most definitely took his own life.
Incredible essay. In 94 I was actually 11, I knew something was wrong with it and I was not even raised Christian (I am now). I just knew it was wrong, it scared me in a childish way I’m not able to describe.
I'm 42 and even hearing you read the lyrics invokes in me the same sense of dread I (unfortunately) remember feeling the first time I saw that music video as a child. The thing about it that's effed with my head over the years is that nobody else saw it like I did. People I loved and respected laughed when I told them how the song/video made me feel.
Darkest and most traumatic drug use I ever was involved in was dissociatives, ppl joke about DXM, but high doses over time I was leaving my body and I came across some kind of demon that showed me horrifying visions, everything in that black hole sun video is a representation of what that thing was, had a psychotic and sadistic joy.
(note: never give your kids cough syrup with that compound (dextromethorphan) in there, even regular doses can open those doors in their sleep, next thing you know they start having trans ideology, these demons want to destroy humanity, and especially innocence).
It had no greater joy than wanting me to suffer (I believe it could tell I was a Christian, I was using various dissociatives to escape neurological pain and am thankfully away from all that now).
It wanted me to believe that I was trapped in this Saturn/demiurgic prison forever and part of my torture was to slowly over time come to the realization I was in hell, and it would go on for eternity, and it would get worse and worse over time.
Words can't do justice to the vision that felt more real than this reality, the spell cast over me of intimate horrific realization, the spell overpowered my reason. It took a few years away from drugs and back in church and studying the Bible for this to wear off.
Similar being to stories I've heard of people doing astral projection, over time one realizes you are going through a door in their zone and they start waiting for you. It's like wandering out in the ocean hoping not to come across a shark.
While drugs are a quick trip to that other world, there are more subtle ways to open those doors; music, bad heart intentions, envy and greed. Best to never accept anything from them, or one day the devil might come for his due.
Nothing is neutral, we are either moving towards these dark entities or we are moving towards God in Christ. ~ https://files.catbox.moe/ha8kq6.jpg
I remember feeling a deep sense of dread when I first saw images of the hexagon present on Saturn's pole. The 6th planet from the sun just happens to have a 6-sided shape permanently visible on its pole? And when we discovered this it wasn't the biggest story in the world? Uncanny.
"Did Cornell really fall back into his old inner demons and kill himself, or was he killed by servants of demonic forces that he had denounced?"
Is there a difference? I'm of the opinion that all thoughts of self-harm are demonic in origin. It's practically the defining characteristic of demons that they delight in the suffering of humans, so much the better if the harm is self-inflicted.
"In Greek and Roman mythology, Saturn/Kronos is said to have ruled over man’s “golden age”, but in reality I think this is a bit of demonic progaganda."
I know you're approaching this from a Christian perspective but there are fascinating alternative theories in how Saturn could indeed have ruled the sky in ancient times.
The Thunderbolt Project has quite a few videos on it on YouTube.
Great article! I love this song, and this band, and there is definitely an enormous amount of depth and symbolism in both the lyrics and the video (nursing "the lamb" while "the fish" escapes...). Speaking of, not sure how many people know there were actually multiple versions of the vid: (https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundgarden/comments/bylbyy/all_different_versions_of_the_black_hole_sun/) which is interesting as well.
Not trying to sell anyone on the idea, but I also believe that one need not be consciously trying or even aware of what they are doing to essentially "channel" (though I have issues with the term ha) or create deeply profound material, and that such profundity--like a fractal or hologram--is built into everything from a pop song to religious tome. Just came to mind because of the discussion of how Chris "came up" with the lyrics.
Kind of like the idea that Dali was painting an actual dreamscape from different locations, I often got the sense (again, nothing I'd stake the farm on) that with his snake references and extended metaphors Chris was kind of building out a conceptual landscape over the course of his career, again whether he consciously knew it or not. Though a very short and overlooked song, I think An Unkind is actually a really good example of this as a kind of companion piece to the Biblical imagery in other songs. Plus it just freaking ROCKS!
Anyway, just some thoughts. Thanks again for the great article and keep on rockin' :D
Excellent article. I remember watching the music video when I was younger and being deeply u settled by it. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but now I know why.
What a great post! The synchronicity with the solstice is wonderful. I lived in 90's Seattle, so the grunge runs deep. I even went to Kurt Cobain's shrine in Aberdeen last year (just passing through, not a pilgrimage). Anyway, I already knew most of the Chris Cornell story, check out his song Jesus Christ Pose - Soundgarden 1991.
Was in my thirties then, and lived in the Seattle area also. However, this is the first time I made myself listen to the whole song. Then I was totally absorbed in my own dramas and was not in step at all with the grunge that was everywhere then so listening now feels a bit surreal. My take on it at this stage of life covers a bit of what others have mentioned but I find the Barbie doll part to be the most symbolic; it feels like the plastic fake world is melting away, and leaving what, exactly. As if the whole negative world pictured in the video is taking itself offstage and out of the picture. Negativity ending in overwhelming negativity. Back to my eighties music now, lol.
I had always harbored suspicions he had Christian principles when he moved to his later band Audioslave. Take a look at the song Show Me How to Live. Knowing he converted is a joyous thing to my mind. As a Gen X it feels as if a part of my youth was redeemed.
This Saturnalian stuff is very disturbing though. Makes me thing of the Muslim “holy” stone in Mecca and is supposedly a meteor fragment. They placed it inside a large black cube of a building…. Creepy.
The cube in Mecca is connected, it all is.
The pilgrims walking in circles around the cube are representing the rings of Saturn.
It’s wild how the demons (and God) can speak to people through artists without them even understanding the message.
Last year I had a long conversation with Jonathan Pageau about this topic - the rainbow prism album cover of Dark Side of the Moon was incredibly prophetic… but did Pink Floyd know what it represented? And the album “Californication” is a perfect symbolic description of the end of the world. But Anthony Kiedis is apparently dumb as a rock.
We have to be very careful when creating or consuming our words and music!
Artists, more than anyone I think, are susceptible to pick up, use, and channel "energies". This is obviously their greatest talent as without it they would not be able to create. But it is clearly a very dangerous skill, as demonstrated by the lives of many musicians and other artists. I don't like the Satanic panic attitude either, but a song like the one in question here is so clearly dark. I felt strange listening to it over and over again while writing this.
Socratic dialogue “Ion” is about this. Artists very seldom “know” about their art, it is created through inspiration or possession by the divine, or I guess the demonic in some cases.
I grew up in Seattle in the 80s and 90s, coming of age at the height of the grunge movement. My own temperament, as well as the broader zeitgeist in that time and place, was overwhelmingly saturnalian - “lack of energy, depression, blindness, and rapid aging…” describes the atmosphere perfectly. At age 10 or so, some of my classmates and I formed what we called the “suicide club,” for kids who fantasized about suicide. It was fortunately just larping at that age, but such was the mood.
It’s also worth noting the symbolic role literal rain played in setting this saturnalian stage. It was dark and damp most of the year, and the darkness and dampness felt like a spiritually oppressive force. So I appreciate your analysis that washing away the rain is an inversion of God’s use of rain to wash away a sinful world in the story of the Flood, but we would have interpreted that line back in the day as summoning some greater force to remove the literal rain seemingly imposing this saturnalian atmosphere on us (I live in the tropics now).
I’m heading back home for a visit next week, and I always dread the atmosphere there. The energy has changed for the worse in the past decade or two. While the grunge era was dark and godless, there was at least something of an admirable spirit of rebellion and a culture of introspection and thoughtfulness. Now the predominant atmosphere is more Ahrimanic, a culture of moralizing busybody HR ladies of both sexes.
2025 Seattle is to 1995 Seattle what the plastic people in the video are to Cornell himself, a juxtaposition between soulless, mindless plasticity and soulful (if dark) authenticity.
That's a dangerous tune. It keeps replaying in my mind. I listened to it once.
One thing is for certain, Satan is doing his best work to date but I’d say he started ramping up several decades ago. I hadn’t heard of this Saturn connection before but it’s definitely interesting.
Right out of the gate, I don’t think Cornell killed himself. He was living his best life at the time. Sober, reborn, happy marriage and loved his kids.
I was a huge Soundgarden fan and a bigger fan of Cornell. This was my era, grunge. Much of their music, as with many artists, was written during drug influenced times. Cornell struggled with both alcoholism and drug addiction.
Does this mean Satan influenced artists while they were under the influence? Totally plausible. I’m of the opinion there’s less intention to be Satan worshippers and more intention to write in a stream of consciousness. Many, many artists have stated as much and have been influenced by reading or hearing a phrase, such as Cornell mentioned.
Cornell’s death was a great loss to the music industry. He had an incredible voice and talent.
I wasn't aware of the documentary associating those artists!
I have hope that his last album (Higher Truth) is a clue to the state of his soul.
You can fill the world with pain
Yeah if you want, I'd feel it now
You can fill the world with hate
I’ve seen it done before
And I know how it all works out
But I’ll take the truth
The higher truth
The higher truth
I want the truth
The higher truth
The higher truth
Maybe you and I one day
Will finally choose a higher truth
Hey
UPDATE: The documentary conspiracy seems unlikely:
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/fact-check-avicii-bennington-cornell-and-bourdain-were-not-working-on-a-child-idUSKCN25F19S/
There was a similar conspiracy about Kurt Cobain being killed by his record label. But his suicide was his second attempt.
Darn it though, I still like Black Hole Sun! - an Instrumental version would be better.
I inherently distrust any "fact-checking" website. That said, I'm not attached to these theories either. As the essay said, I only just learned about this man yesterday. But something about the story feels intuitively off.
You only heard of Chris Cornell two days ago, and you thought this was a reasonable interpretation and a smart article to write? Have you ever heard any of his other music?
I first saw Soundgarden in 1989.Their music, and Chris's music, covers a broad gamut of human experience. That's what artists do. When engaging with darkness while writing about it, it's possible they can be entangled with it. It's a risk they take in order to bear witness, and it's very brave of them.
It was absolutely heartbreaking to our town when Chris died. We all thought he was well settled into his later life,so it was like a nightmare, bringing back the memories of losing Andrew Wood, Kris Cobain, Kristen Pfaff, Layne Staley, and others. It seemed like he'd been claimed by an old curse that everyone thought had been broken.
I have not heard any of his other music, but that certainly sounds more hopeful
I really, truly don’t believe Kurt took his own life. It would have been totally at odds with how he claimed to feel about life at that time.
I think it is more believable than the conspiracy theories. It was his second attempt, the first one being in Rome a month earlier:
https://en.faceoffrockshow.com/post/the-day-kurt-cobain-overdosed-and-went-into-a-coma-1
After Chris, everybody was saying "we should be checking in regularly with Eddie Vedder!"
Kurt Cobain was a very troubled young man. I was a fan and read a lot about him and his drug addiction. After his death there was a lot of information that came out. His friends and family were doing the tough love thing and keeping their distance because he had fallen off the wagon again. He was isolated, drug addled, and severely depressed and he most definitely took his own life.
Incredible essay. In 94 I was actually 11, I knew something was wrong with it and I was not even raised Christian (I am now). I just knew it was wrong, it scared me in a childish way I’m not able to describe.
I'm 42 and even hearing you read the lyrics invokes in me the same sense of dread I (unfortunately) remember feeling the first time I saw that music video as a child. The thing about it that's effed with my head over the years is that nobody else saw it like I did. People I loved and respected laughed when I told them how the song/video made me feel.
Darkest and most traumatic drug use I ever was involved in was dissociatives, ppl joke about DXM, but high doses over time I was leaving my body and I came across some kind of demon that showed me horrifying visions, everything in that black hole sun video is a representation of what that thing was, had a psychotic and sadistic joy.
(note: never give your kids cough syrup with that compound (dextromethorphan) in there, even regular doses can open those doors in their sleep, next thing you know they start having trans ideology, these demons want to destroy humanity, and especially innocence).
It had no greater joy than wanting me to suffer (I believe it could tell I was a Christian, I was using various dissociatives to escape neurological pain and am thankfully away from all that now).
It wanted me to believe that I was trapped in this Saturn/demiurgic prison forever and part of my torture was to slowly over time come to the realization I was in hell, and it would go on for eternity, and it would get worse and worse over time.
Words can't do justice to the vision that felt more real than this reality, the spell cast over me of intimate horrific realization, the spell overpowered my reason. It took a few years away from drugs and back in church and studying the Bible for this to wear off.
Similar being to stories I've heard of people doing astral projection, over time one realizes you are going through a door in their zone and they start waiting for you. It's like wandering out in the ocean hoping not to come across a shark.
While drugs are a quick trip to that other world, there are more subtle ways to open those doors; music, bad heart intentions, envy and greed. Best to never accept anything from them, or one day the devil might come for his due.
Nothing is neutral, we are either moving towards these dark entities or we are moving towards God in Christ. ~ https://files.catbox.moe/ha8kq6.jpg
I remember feeling a deep sense of dread when I first saw images of the hexagon present on Saturn's pole. The 6th planet from the sun just happens to have a 6-sided shape permanently visible on its pole? And when we discovered this it wasn't the biggest story in the world? Uncanny.
"Did Cornell really fall back into his old inner demons and kill himself, or was he killed by servants of demonic forces that he had denounced?"
Is there a difference? I'm of the opinion that all thoughts of self-harm are demonic in origin. It's practically the defining characteristic of demons that they delight in the suffering of humans, so much the better if the harm is self-inflicted.
"In Greek and Roman mythology, Saturn/Kronos is said to have ruled over man’s “golden age”, but in reality I think this is a bit of demonic progaganda."
I know you're approaching this from a Christian perspective but there are fascinating alternative theories in how Saturn could indeed have ruled the sky in ancient times.
The Thunderbolt Project has quite a few videos on it on YouTube.
Otherwise a great interpretation.
I've heard a bit about that. I don't necessarily see why it would conflict with what I'm saying here though
Great article! I love this song, and this band, and there is definitely an enormous amount of depth and symbolism in both the lyrics and the video (nursing "the lamb" while "the fish" escapes...). Speaking of, not sure how many people know there were actually multiple versions of the vid: (https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundgarden/comments/bylbyy/all_different_versions_of_the_black_hole_sun/) which is interesting as well.
Not trying to sell anyone on the idea, but I also believe that one need not be consciously trying or even aware of what they are doing to essentially "channel" (though I have issues with the term ha) or create deeply profound material, and that such profundity--like a fractal or hologram--is built into everything from a pop song to religious tome. Just came to mind because of the discussion of how Chris "came up" with the lyrics.
Kind of like the idea that Dali was painting an actual dreamscape from different locations, I often got the sense (again, nothing I'd stake the farm on) that with his snake references and extended metaphors Chris was kind of building out a conceptual landscape over the course of his career, again whether he consciously knew it or not. Though a very short and overlooked song, I think An Unkind is actually a really good example of this as a kind of companion piece to the Biblical imagery in other songs. Plus it just freaking ROCKS!
Anyway, just some thoughts. Thanks again for the great article and keep on rockin' :D
I’ve been a fan of grunge since I was a kid but I NEVER liked that song and I couldn’t understood the appeal and popularity it had.
oh my god, thank you.
The song is TEDIOUS.
Excellent article. I remember watching the music video when I was younger and being deeply u settled by it. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but now I know why.
What a great post! The synchronicity with the solstice is wonderful. I lived in 90's Seattle, so the grunge runs deep. I even went to Kurt Cobain's shrine in Aberdeen last year (just passing through, not a pilgrimage). Anyway, I already knew most of the Chris Cornell story, check out his song Jesus Christ Pose - Soundgarden 1991.
Was in my thirties then, and lived in the Seattle area also. However, this is the first time I made myself listen to the whole song. Then I was totally absorbed in my own dramas and was not in step at all with the grunge that was everywhere then so listening now feels a bit surreal. My take on it at this stage of life covers a bit of what others have mentioned but I find the Barbie doll part to be the most symbolic; it feels like the plastic fake world is melting away, and leaving what, exactly. As if the whole negative world pictured in the video is taking itself offstage and out of the picture. Negativity ending in overwhelming negativity. Back to my eighties music now, lol.
This is an unbelievable ride- great great great work